Mario Kart 7 Is Japan's Fastest Selling 3DS Game

After almost a week on the market, Nintendo's Mario Kart 7 is on pace to become Japan's fastest-selling 3DS title, with more than 420,000 units sold according to Nintendo's internal projections ahead of official Media Create sales data.

The title, which debuted December 1, is set to beat out the platform's previous fastest-selling title, Super Mario 3D Land, which saw first week sales of 340,000 units.

Mario Kart 7 has also broken the first week sales record for the previous handheld entry in the series, Mario Kart DS, which sold 219,391 units in its first week on the market. For comparison, Mario Kart Wii's first week sales totaled 594,000 units.

When reflecting on Mario Kart 7's sales in a recent interview with Nikkei [Japanese language], Nintendo CEO Satoru Iwata said the company anticipates high sales for the title in North America and Europe, noting that the Mario titles on 3DS are performing better internationally than in Japan, reports Andriasang.

In addition, Nintendo recently confirmed that worldwide sales of the 3DS surpassed the first year sales of the original DS in just eight months.